The function of this Core will be to provide support for the Program in studies requiring the use of animals. Each project has extensive animal requirements for the development and testing of the proposed molecular therapies. Each strategy also must be tested in a suitable animal model following in vitro evaluation. These tests in our animal models will provide the needed efficacy and toxicity data required before proposed therapies can be applied to clinical studies. The specific aims are to breed and provide currently available transgenic animals; to generate new transgenic mice expressing ribozymes in kidney (TGFbeta1, bFGF); to provide rats and mice for in vivo studies; and to provide tissues for cell culture and protein purification. The Core will also assist in the development of the various gene therapy strategies by supporting in vivo testing, phenotype assessment, and biochemical and histological analyses. One of the primary goals of the Core will be the development transgenic lines and breeding studies between transgenics. The transgenic mice will be created using standard pro-nuclear microinjection with non-homologous recombination. The Core will also provide the technical expertise required for the successful completion of several of the experiments requiring survival surgical procedures including minipump implantation, intra renal artery injections, ureteral injections, and renal clearance studies.